


The Coffee Theory

by Fandom_Eclipse



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angry Tony Stark, Angst, Angst and Feels, Arguing, Coffee Addict Tony Stark, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light Angst, Male Friendship, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Relationship, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13356303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Eclipse/pseuds/Fandom_Eclipse
Summary: Everyone has their bad days--Tony is no exception. So when he’s running on his seventh coffee alone, Steve decides it’s time for an intervention...hopefully before something blows up.





	The Coffee Theory

Today was not a good day.

Talk about understatement of the century. Honestly, it had started out like any other day for the genius billionaire. Two cups of the most bitter coffee possible to make up for yesterday’s late night, and a quick breakfast sandwich. It wasn’t until noon that things started going downhill. A few bad meetings, an unsavory-yet still popular news story-and an argument with Pepper completely ruined his appetite for lunch. Not that it mattered, because Bruce had been forced to cancel their takeout last minute anyway for some business trip. Then the elevator went under maintenance, so Tony had to take the stairs up at least ten floors just to get to another frustrating meeting.

He spent the rest of his afternoon going through papers for both Stark Industries and the Avengers. A fair amount of hate mail was a perfect for a quick session of self loathing. Steve was supposed to drop by for dinner, but ended up getting delayed by a fight unfolding between a certain spider-themed vigilante and a group of supervillains. The Captain didn’t have to intervene, but was stuck in traffic anyway, so aided in the cleanup-probably out of the goodness of his heart. Tony, now running on a coffee he grabbed in between meetings, was sorting through some plans for some new designs when the power on his device bugged out and he lost all progress. After a bit of angrily yelled profanity, he grabbed another coffee as he went down to his lab to let off some steam. 

Tony took a deep breath as he entered the private lab. If nothing else, pure science was at least the one thing he could do right. Or so he thought, anyway. The circuit board he was working on kept on sparking, and after giving him a few burns completely exploded in a large cloud of smoke that activated the water sprinkler system. After getting a change of clothes and another coffee, Tony set about fixing up the lab. Unfortunately that involved finding a bunch of broken glass with his left hand. A bunch of running water, cursing, bandages and another coffee later found him back at his workspace. He was determined to not be a total screw up today. Not that he wasn’t one every other day, but the thought still counted for something, right? He figured another cup of coffee or two wouldn’t hurt with the stressful day he’s had so far...

~

Steve was...disappointed, to say the least. 

Today was supposed to be relaxing. He was just supposed to go a meeting, then come home and rest up from the minor injuries he was recovering from. He was already upset that he was forced to skip lunch because Fury’s meeting ran late, and then he had to miss dinner over a fight he wasn’t even a part of. The American Icon was stuck in traffic, the CD looping endlessly in the stereo until he finally left to help with the clean up efforts. His optimistic attitude was slipping, but he figured once he got home, it would be okay. He would go and eat some leftovers that Tony and Bruce had promised him, take a nap, maybe chat with the others, watch a movie…anything to calm down. His bed felt like a distant paradise to Steve. He took comfort in the idea of home as the traffic slowly settled down, and he was able to get through with relative ease. It took a while, but he finally arrived back at the tower, using his keycard to enter through the back entrance.

“Hello, Mr. Rogers, heading to your room?”

He confirmed the request as the elevator shot upwards, running smoothly. Today’s maintenance crew had clearly worked their magic, which Steve was thankful for so he didn’t have to walk up a million flights of stairs. Steve opened up the door, and flickered on the lights. He changed out of his proper clothes, into something more comfortable; his favorite sweatpants and blue t-shirt, complete with his trademark shield on it.

“Really, Steve? Buying your own merchandise?” 

“Hey, it’s comfortable! Besides, you have a PAINTING of YOURSELF in the lab! A t-shirt hardly compares.” Steve laughed at Tony, who raised his hands in mock defeat. 

“You have me there.”

Steve chuckled at the memory, walking back into the hallway and heading down into the kitchen a few floors below. The room was dark, completely abandoned. That wasn’t really too surprising. The only ones actually living in the tower were him and Bucky, along with Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Vision, Wanda, and a few others. Bucky was away finishing up some mission in Mexico for a couple of weeks. Bruce had also left for a business-related trip that afternoon. He opened up the fridge, looking for his leftovers, only to find them mysteriously absent.  
“Seriously? They were supposed to have my name on them!” He slammed the door in frustration. He quietly stomped back into the elevator. “FRIDAY, take me back upstairs. I’m going to get some sleep.” He stepped into his room once again and collapsed unceremoniously onto the bed.

Several hours later and Steve had gotten nowhere but tossing and turning. It was some ungodly hour in the morning (according to Thor, anyway), and he was absolutely miserable. It didn’t help that Tony wouldn’t just get to sleep already. Whatever he was doing in the lab was incredibly loud, and the result was a special, suicide-inducing kind of noise. He was normally an easygoing guy, but even Steve had a breaking point, and Tony had reached it. He had to go shut Tony up. He stormed up into the elevator again, and FRIDAY clicked on. 

“Sir...your heart rate is incredibly high.”

“Send me to Tony’s lab. Now!”

“I would not advise that, Mr. Rogers.”

“Now!!”

“Sir...why don’t you take a shower? Or re-”

“NOW!!!” 

The elevator seemed to be taking its sweet time, finally arriving at its destination once when his frustration began to feel forced. “TONY! CAN’T YOU TELL THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE TRY- WOAH!” Steve yelped.

A disposable cup of coffee got flung in his direction, splattering the last few sips of liquid all over the intruder. Steve’s temper was about to flare upon realizing his favorite shirt would be stained, but he frowned after looking at Tony’s condition, anger being replaced by concern. His teammate looked even worse than he normally did at this hour; which was really saying something. Tony’s hair was messy, like someone had repeatedly run their hand through it. His left hand was crudely bandaged, a slight red pigment showing through the fabric. Not to mention the deep bags under his eyes.

“Tony…? Are you okay? What happened t-”

“Shut. Up.”

“I-”

“SHUT UP! I know this is really shitty, b-but I’m, I’m working on it, okay?!” Tony clenched his fists, shaking from a combination of exhaustion, caffeine overdose, and a small cold he had gotten from standing in the air conditioned room with wet hair. It definitely had nothing to do with the angry tears streaming down his cheeks. “I...I know I messed up, okay?” His gaze was fixed onto the floor. 

“Tony, I..I’m sorry.” the Captain felt his concern get thrown out of the window, replaced by guilt. “Are you...okay? How much coffee have you had today?” 

Tony looked thoughtful. “That one...was either seven or eight, give or take.”

“Tony...You know that’s not good for you or your heart.” 

“I don’t care.”

“Well, you should. God, Tony…you heard the doctor… do you want to die?

“It’s...It wouldn't matter, anyway.” Tony’s eyes darkened.

“Tony, what the hell? What has gotten into you?”

“Me?! What’s gotten into me?! Well, excuse me for not being as perfect as the Captain America, sir. Maybe-just, maybe-something about the world being against you... just gets to those of us with weaker minds, you know? Today hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. I’m known and hated internationally, and I just can’t s-seem to do anything right, so I’m sorry for being a complete mess. I-is that what you want to hear?!” As Tony’s tone gradually changed to a shout, it became unclear who his fury was aimed towards.

“I...I…” A brief pause cut through his words, as he figured out what to say. “Tony. I’m sorry. I had no idea you were feeling this way, I...Let me help you. What can I do?” He took a step towards the man of iron.

“I can’t...I just don’t know anymore, Steve. I just don’t know. Everything about today is just so fucked up. I’m fucked up. I can’t even work on science properly, and that’s the only thing I can do right on a good day!” He looked ready to explode, but it was unclear if it was from tears or pent up frustrations.

“Tony, that’s not true. Ask anyone, hell, you’re a billionaire yourself! You aren’t fucked up. Everyone has bad days. You just have work through it. Even when it seems as if everyone is against you, you have to be the one to plant yourself firmly and tell them no. Tomorrow is a new day, and while it may be just as bad as today, it will be a new start. You can work in the lab when you’re not about to fall over, but for tonight we should try to get some sleep, alright?”

Tony inhaled deeply. “O...okay. I’ll try. I...should probably quit before-”

A loud boom accompanied by a large cloud of smoke burst suddenly from the project he was working on. The duo gave it a sympathetic look.

“Hey, Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I deserve one more cup of coffee…”

**Author's Note:**

> Woah...woah. The first work has been posted! This is awesome! Thank you for reading this, and we hope you enjoyed it. This was definitely fun to write, that’s for sure!  
> -Starlight
> 
> Hey guys! This has been so fun to write! I’m excited for more to come. Thanks for reading, and comments and kudos are always appreciated!! We also take suggestions or requests, and we’ll try to write them to the best of our ability. <3 -Oakley


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